Tag Archives: King Henry VIII

At the dawn of humanity, marriage was deemed to be sacrosanct. Divorce in most societies – especially at the instigation of a female – was not permitted. Royalty – men only – were usually entitled to have a lover as their wife was usually married for political and not affection reasons. In these circumstances, divorce was never considered as the wife was the baby production machine whereas romantic love was reserved for their mistress. What happened when the wife could not deliver a male heir or, like in more modern times, when mistresses were no longer tolerated, how did the king or the royalty get their divorce?

This blog dissects four vastly different royal divorces each of which exposes much about the milieu in which each occurred. Included in this blog will be the vignette on how [Bessiewallis] Wallis Simpson obtained her divorce from her second husband in order to marry King Edward VIII.

Main picture: Anne Boleyn in the Tower awaiting execution by Edouard Cibot (1799–1877)

Being an avid reader of history and subscriber to history magazines such as the BBC History Magazine, I possess a smidgeon of an insight into the medieval world. The error that ordinary people make when they conjure up visions of the “good old days” is that they extrapolate what the Tudor reign would be like by means of picture postcards of the English countryside idyll of half a century ago.

Summation: Lush production highlighting the intrigue, politics and religious conflict during this era

Rating: 5 out of 5

This was certainly not a carefree period for a monarch to reign in England let alone a woman. By breaking with the Catholic Church when the Pope would not grant him a divorce, King Henry VIII had formed the Church of England. This had caused a rift with the Catholic Church. Queen Mary 1, Elizabeth’s half-sister was fiercely Catholic whereas Elizabeth was just as committed religiously but as a Protestant. As such Mary despised Elizabeth and attempted to convert her to Catholicism. Mary’s advisors, chiefly the Duke of Norfolk, attempted to have Elizabeth executed for treason. Mary agreed to her being send to the Tower but relented and instead put her under house arrest. Before she can again be convinced to execute her, Queen Mary 1 dies of ovarian cancer.

In an older era, this would have been known as plain good neighbourliness but with the alienation caused by urbanisation, common civilities such as greeting a neighbour let alone knowing their names has become redundant.

Why should this be so & how can one promote social cohesion through common sense good manners? But it is especially our attitude to the lower less fortunate strata in society that I am concerned about.